TRon

I would prefer him not to go, but if he can get a couple of games in for us before going, it will sting slightly less.

Hasn't helped us much against the two decent sides we've played in the CL so far.

Probably had something to do with a cat could chin a magpie if they went toe to toe.

I can understand the reasoning, but then it doesn't say much about his belief in our ability on the deck.

Sick of seeing this thread being bumped tbh, when it seems he's always still a few weeks away from fitness.

I was livid with that one.

Well it's the same guy who was trying to keep Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett around on contracts long past their sell by dates.

He's playing because Howe is unflinchingly loyal to his leadership group IMO. Plus if he drops Pope it could affect his England prospects, Pope was waxing lyrical about how Tuchel had been in regular touch with him about the World Cup right before the West Ham game, where he dropped at least one clanger. The CL was the perfect game to rotate him without making it look like he'd been dropped, now I think he stays in the side just to preserve his reputation. That's not to say he's a bad keeper either, but neither is Ramsdale, and we are paying good money for him to be here on loan which is going to cost us £25m if we keep him on. What is he supposed to think when Pope keeps getting picked regardless of how many times he fucks up?

Put him in the same bracket as Pope. Riding on his reputation as an England player, but he might follow him down the pecking order unless he starts showing something in the PL. Barnes looks a much better player at the moment.

And now Bruno will be fatigued for Saturday. We can't pick sides based on worrying what anyone else thinks.

Would be quite funny because after Brentford I was thinking Man City and Everton up next...no chance. But we beat City so who the fuck knows?

I agree it's too early to judge these players, but I don't think it's too early to be playing them more. We are a third of the season through and some players are playing twice a week, while new signings are barely registering 20 mins off the subs bench. I don't know why, but it's a poor use of squad resources in my view.

Why not use him in a few more games then? He's never going to be ready unless he gets time on the pitch.

I would prefer we play Botman tbh and stop using Dan Burn so much. Botman is the future, Burn is just a depreciating asset, and that's no reflection on Burn's performances, he's done alright.

He's actually a seasoned PL professional, in that season when Tonali was banned he played quite a few games in midfield for us.

I think part of the problem is we don't really seem to have settled on our style as a team yet. We are switching between high press and low block ourselves depending on the opponents, which is good as you do need to be able to adapt. But it seems to cause confusion among players as to their exact role, and that's not helping Elanga.

Considering how many fixtures we've seen Bruno, Joelinton and Tonali start, I would have thought he might have had a few more starts this season. Just to keep the squad fresh if nothing else.

Try using your squad Eddie. We are a third of the way through the season now, surely the likes of Ramsey, Miley and Elanga should be up to speed by now.

Definitely. He's waited long enough.

I was all up for him starting up front today tbh, thought he might have more joy against forrin defenders. But he just looks like a little boy bouncing off heavyweights when he plays centrally.

They are a good team tbf, we really had a hard time keeping a leash on them in that first half.

Eddie tends to stick with the players he trusts though. But at some point he has to show some faith in Ramsdale otherwise he's going to wonder why he signed up here.

Feels like ever he started talking about playing for England again, his form has dived.

We defended quite well in the first half tbf, but we didn't have the ability to bring the ball out. Ironically because we didn't have more defenders like Thiaw.

Again, I was in favour of using Willock in the pre-match. I want us to use our squad, that's the point.